To buy or not to buy...

[nightrider 13]

Interest rates (at least the base rate) is almost guaranteed to come down a quarter, and maybe a half for the next quarter. The BOE have virtually already said that it's coming down.

Even so, I doubt that will be enough to restart the market, confidence amongst most sane people is low and won't recover that quickly, so at the best the market is going to be flat.

 

 

It is also possible banks will not pass on the interest rate cut if there is one.

[Cyclone 10]

They are always slow at passing on a cut if they even do.

They're never slow at passing on a rise though :-)

[nickyboyzuk 10]

Well, if the Bank of England do cut rights this will push inflation even higher.

 

As we all know the Governer has said that his main concern is keeping inflation under control.

 

I think we will see yet another hold on interest rates this time round. Decreasing them could cause the economy to spiral out of control.

[rustyfunk 10]

its totally possible that we can see falling hp and falling irs. IMO the boe base rate will have little effect on LIBOR or mortgage rates in the short term...

 

I think merv wil resign fairly soon. IMO he is stuck between a rock and a hard place. His job is to target inflation 2 years hence, but the pressure from the treasury to cut must be massive. Thye gov do not want hpc, and northern rock bailout proves how (non) independant the bOE actually are

[frankief 10]

Interesting interview on Newsnight tonight (sorry to get so heavy!)

Someone on who was once high up in the Bank of England said we should have never bailed out Northern Rock, taxpayers will be paying this burden for a lifetime. It should have been left to sink and the account holders compensated, which would have cost less in the long run. Stuff like that makes we wary about the general economy. Is it in good hands?

[nightrider 13]

They are always slow at passing on a cut if they even do.

They're never slow at passing on a rise though :-)

 

Nope:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=5K0YVV14CSUNXQFIQMFCFFWAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/11/17/nrates117.xml

 

although this is not really passing one on, just forcing another rate rise on the customers.

[Dave h-j 10]

BoE trackers tend to rise fall at the beginning of the month following a rate change. However, some trackers/discounts are based on the SVR rate, rather than BoE - and it's here that the banks/BS can dig their claws in...

 

This sort of action will hit SVR mortgages, but then I can't understand why people are still tied to these (although they probably help to subsidise the reduced rate fixed products)

[sham71 10]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7118336.stm

 

quick, buy now before they fall any more.

 

hold on, thats not right is it?

[Phylis 10]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7118336.stm

 

quick, buy now before they fall any more.

 

hold on, thats not right is it?

 

Did you read the whole article though! It does point out that actual house price decline is very unlikely so yes go buy.